Forward Lukas Reichel has been stuck in timid form the majority of the season so far. But his confidence seemingly returned in the Blackhawks’ 3-2 victory Tuesday night against the Avalanche.
In the first period, when rookie center Connor Bedard set him up on a two-on-one rush for his long-awaited first five-on-five goal of the season, tying the game at 2, Reichel celebrated emphatically in front of the third sellout crowd of the season at the United Center.
A couple of shifts later, he deked two Avalanche players out of their skates on a rush down the left wing, then put a backhanded pass perfectly onto Bedard’s tape.
The swagger that had been so glaringly missing from the 21-year-old German’s game remained throughout the night as he fired at will and put full power into his skating strides. He has a long way to go to get his season back on track, but Tuesday looked like the closest thing yet to a turning point.
“We talk a lot [about] making sure he’s playing free of expectations and thought and just enjoying himself,” teammate Ryan Donato said. “It looked like he was having fun. He was flying around.”
Bedard and Donato, who tallied two points each, and goalie Petr Mrazek, who made 35 saves, helped the Hawks keep pace before Tyler Johnson scored the game-winner on a power play in the third period to snap the Hawks’ four-game losing streak.
Blackwell returns
Colin Blackwell played in an NHL game for the first time in 295 days. And the veteran bottom-six forward looked like he had 295 days’ worth of energy built up.
He was active from the opening drop, with five shots and six hits in 16:41 of ice time. He delivered big hits on Jonathan Drouin in the first period, Bowen Byram in the second and Nathan MacKinnon in the third and helped draw Ryan Johansen into a critical roughing penalty with 34 seconds left.
Blackwell’s most recent appearance had been Feb. 27 last season. He underwent surgery to repair a sports hernia shortly afterward, and his recovery ended up taking far longer than anticipated.
“The staff here did a great job in between all the periods, making sure I was all set,” Blackwell said. “Obviously, [I was] a little anxious. [It was] nerve-racking going into the game. And then, as the game went on, I was good to go.”
More injury updates
The Hawks are close to getting two defensemen back in the lineup. That’s the good news.
Kevin Korchinski returned to Chicago on Tuesday after mourning his father’s death in Saskatoon. He participated in the morning skate and will just need a few days to get back up to game speed. Jarred Tinordi, out since Dec. 5 with a concussion, also participated in the morning skate.
The bad news is that defenseman Seth Jones’ upper-body injury, which appeared to be a shoulder injury, “got worse” in the days after it happened Dec. 10, coach Luke Richardson said. Jones won’t play before Christmas, meaning he’ll miss the Hawks’ games Friday against the Canadiens and Saturday against the Blues — and he could miss more time than that.
Defenseman Alex Vlasic’s return timeline from his upper-body injury is ahead of Jones’, Richardson said. Vlasic skated on his own Tuesday without participating in full team activities. Forward Andreas Athanasiou, out since Nov. 9 with a groin injury, is nowhere near returning. He was supposed to resume skating a few weeks ago, but that didn’t happen, and he’s now “getting further checkups,” Richardson said.
“It’s just one of those injuries that’s dragging for him, and we don’t have a timeline,” Richardson said.
